India's first Mega Fab to be unveiled in 2006

In an attempt to create yet another history of sorts, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr YS Rajashekar Reddy on June 26, 2005 performed the ground breaking ceremony for the country's first ever Mega Fab unit. Coming up in the sprawling 350-acres Hardware Technology Park, near the new International Airport,
Shamshabad, in Andhra Pradesh, the project is slated to be ready within the next 15 to 18 months from now.

Titled Rajiv Gandhi Nano-Tech Silicon India (NTSI), the mega fab unit will be developed in two phases-phase I, a logic semiconductor fab will incur investments of $ 600 million and will develop wafers with a capacity of 30,000 per month while phase II will incur investments of $ 2.5 billion. 

Speaking on the occasion, Reddy said, “If everything goes well, we should have our first fab in the next 15 months from now. This will hopefully fetch many supporting companies and many more developments will take place.” NTSI is a JV between AP government and Korean company Intellect Inc. The government has offered 50 acres of land initially for constructing the two phases. 

Giving details about the project financing status, NTSI promoter and Intellect Inc Chairman, P June Min said, “The first phase investment of $600 million will include $160 million of equity and $290 million of debt financing. Of the total equity, 20% would come from the technology partner.” He further mentioned that 25% of the equity would also come from Indian investors. “We however need an industrial partner who can support over the next 15 to 17 years,” explained Min. 

According to NTSI, the first phase will start commercial production by June 2006, including a range of products like automotive ICs, cell-phone chips, microprocessors and RF power devices. 

NTSI expects to complete the first round of financing within the next 60 days, which will include $64 million to $72 million equity, $116 million to $130 million debt and $150 million construction fund. 

“Two local industrialists-Vijaya Electricals' CEO Jai Ramesh and Nuzividu Seeds' MD, Prabhakar Rao are understood to have agreed to participate by investing 20% each of the seed capital, while the rest 60% will be sourced by June,” informed Min. However, the exact amount of seed capital was not provided with. 

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